Taijul Islam is playing for Bangladesh in the second Test against Sri Lanka, which is currently underway at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. The 33-year-old spinner picked up five wickets for 131 runs in 42.5 overs for the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side in the first innings and helped them bowl Sri Lanka out for 458 runs.
Islam opened his wicket account on Thursday by trapping opener Lahiru Udara in front of the wickets. The wicket of Udara, who made 40 runs, helped Taijul become the first Bangladeshi bowler to take 100 wickets in the World Test Championship (WTC).
The ongoing match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Colombo is Taijul’s 25th WTC game for Bangladesh. In the list of Bangladeshi bowlers with the most wickets in the WTC, he is followed by Mehidy Hasan Miraz (87), Hasan Mahmud (33), Taskin Ahmed (33), and Ebadot Hossain (30).
Most wickets for Bangladesh in WTC
Taijul Islam – 104
Mehidy Hasan Miraz – 87
Hasan Mahmud – 33
Taskin Ahmed – 33
Ebadot Hossain – 30
Taijul picked his second wicket in the form of Pathum Nissanka on Friday morning. Nissanka top-scored for Sri Lanka in the first innings. He faced 254 balls and, with the help of 19 fours, scored 158 runs. He was caught by Anamul Haque on the first ball of the 84th over.
In his next over, he removed Sri Lanka Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva (7) and then picked up Tharindu Ratnayake (10) and Asitha Fernando’s (0) wickets to complete the five-wicket haul.
Taijul, who is Bangladesh’s second leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, has 8 five-wicket hauls to his name in WTC. Only four bowlers—Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pat Cummins, and Nathan Lyon—have picked up more fifers in the WTC than Taijul.
Most five-wicket hauls in WTC
Jasprit Bumrah (India) – 11
Ravichandran Ashwin (India) – 11
Pat Cummins (Australia) – 10
Nathan Lyon (Australia) – 10
Taijul Islam (Bangladesh) – 8
Prabath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) – 8
Kagiso Rabada (South Africa) – 8
If Taijul manages to take at least 10 more wickets for Bangladesh in the upcoming Test matches, then he will go past Shakib Al Hasan’s tally of 246 and become Bangladesh’s highest wicket-taker in the five-day format of the game. Shakib, who is arguably the greatest cricketer of Bangladesh, played 71 Tests from 2007 to 2024 and picked up 246 wickets.